Created by our Educators

"Pourquoi" is the French word for "why". Pourquoi stories are tales that explain why or how something is in the world. Many different cultures worldwide have pourquoi stories. They often or try to explain elements of nature and/or the animal kingdom.

To write your own pourquoi story consider the following questions:

• What is is that you are explaining? (Titles of pourquoi stories often start with "how" or "why")

• Where and when do they live? (Most pourquoi stories take place in the distant past)

• What is the problem in your story that leads to the thing you are explaining?

• Who is your main character? (Male or female? Animal or human?)

• Are there other characters involved?

• How does your story tell how or why something is as it is?

• How do we see this thing in the world today?

Tools: Personification | Brevity | Voice

After reading Sandra Cisneros' vignette "My Name" write a short story about your name.

adapted from yileague.org

Objective: Create a chain reaction that keeps going for as long as possible. Get creative and keep up the momentum!
Constraints: One touch only to start!
Materials: You can use items from the Home MakerSpace kit as well as extras from your home (check with parents)
Use the engineering design process:
Collect materials > brainstorm ideas > create your chain reaction > test > improve > test > improve > final & video

Objective: Think of a word, not your name please, maybe something uplifting, (like believe, or love, but you could come up with some of your own.) I would like you to create the word in a font of your choice, drawn, or collaged in, and add a background of your choice enhancing the word. If you have colored pencils, great. I assume you have a pencil. If you have other supplies that's great, but not necessary. You know we were exploring other supplies in school for our mixed media, so, obviously I am open to this. You can even use crayons or markers, You may have watercolors, or oil pastels, glue, scissors, collage papers? I know some of you won't have them. It's OK!! Even pencil work will be fine. Try to have a little fun with it. If you want to do other drawing, you can in your sketchbook and it will count towards homework. Also, I will encourage you to use your sketchbook to write lists of possible words and think of different ideas for backgrounds that may connect with the word or may be abstract. I think you should cut the papers down, maybe into quarters. You may not use all the paper you brought home, but I wanted to make sure you had enough. Some of your words may be larger than the others. Try not to share your selected words prior to our shared online class time. I think it will make it more engaging to see what you all have been up to.

Objective: Present a landscape photograph and reinterpret it into a collage by color matching the colors from the photograph to colors in magazines. The pieces can either be cut or torn, depending on your preference. Create a feeling of space through the use of color and scale.

Objective:
Design a costume for a character in a show and recreate it out of recycled goods from your house. It needs to fit a doll (example: a barbie) or a toy (example: stuffed animal). Take a picture of it when you are done and send it to me, with a caption telling me the character and title of the show.

Graded on:
-Design (should show a clear design and careful application)
-Creativity (uses materials that are thoughtful and interesting to look at)
-Participation (is a complete costume)

Objective: Create a presentation on the history of a musical. You chose the Broadway production! You should include a synopsis of the show, pictures of the show and how the show was important to the history of musical theatre. What was its impact? Make sure you also discuss any important figures that were a part of the production- both onstage and off. What was happening during that time historically that relates to the show? And finally, you will need to include an ‘out of the box’ part of your presentation; this can be a song, a dance, a costume design, a set design or more! And don’t forget some video clips of the production. Think creatively! Dazzle us! And have fun!

Make a video, 30 seconds to 2 minutes, doing something entertaining. Feel free to involve members of your family (including pets).... Use your imagination and show your strengths!

A few ideas:

• Make up a 30 second STOMP routine using your body and/or household objects for rhythm and dance.

• Make up a 30 second Rap song about anything--clean version!

• Mess around with GarageBand and create something new.

• Learn how to juggle and demonstrate.

• Perform something--sing a cappella or with a karaoke track, play an instrument, recite a poem or a monologue, perform a dance.

• Perform a comedy routine.

Objective A: Answer 25 questions about Chica alta in Spanish
Objective B: Write the plot of Tall Girl, in your own words, in Spanish in at least 10 sentences.
Objective C: Draw and color a storyboard with selected scenes from Chica alta.

View the detailed project instructions here.

• • Choose your pet.

  • Take pictures of your pet every day for a week and organize a folder of the best images to be pasted in your presentation. You can also include a short video if it applies.

  • You will start your presentation with a title slide. Then, you will include a first slide with a photo of your pet and answering the following questions:

    • ¿Cómo se llama tu mascota? Mi mascota se llama…

    • ¿Qué animal es?

    • ¿Cómo es? Describe

• After that first slide, you will include a slide for each day of the week, between Monday and Sunday, with a picture describing the activity your pet does.

View detailed lesson plan here.

• Step 1: take a regular piece of paper (8.5 x 11) and divide it into 8 sections

• Step 2: In each box you are going to write one Latin preposition and illustrate it.

View detailed lesson plan here.